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US President Donald Trump points to former communications director Hope Hicks shortly before making his way to board Marine One on the South Lawn and departing from the White House on March 29, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

White House staff secretary Rob Porter looks on after US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC. On September 1, 2017. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter (L) and Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller (C) return to the White House after a day trip with President Donald Trump to Cincinnati, Ohio, February 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White House Communications Director and presidential advisor Hope Hicks waves to reporters as she arrives at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center February 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (L) waves to journalists as he and Staff Secretary Rob Porter leave the White House with U.S. President Donald Trump November 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks attends a listening session hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump with student survivors of school shootings, their parents and teachers in the State Dining Room at the White House February 21, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(L-R) White House Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter prepare to observe a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House October 2, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks (R)listens to White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway as US President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 9, 2018. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (L), White House chief of staff John Kelly (C) and White House staff secretary Rob Porter look on after US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation calling for a national day of prayer on September 3 for those affected by Hurricane Harvey in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 1, 2017. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks (2nd L) calls for no more questions as US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while departing Manila on November 14, 2017. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn (L) and Strategic Communications Director Hope Hicks leave the White House October 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(L-R) National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter and Ivanka Trump walk across the South Lawn before departing the White House with U.S. President Donald Trump August 30, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks walks down the stairs after US President Donald Trump disembarked from Air Force Oner at Morristown Municipal Airport on September 29, 2017 in Morristown, New Jersey, as he travels to spend the weekend at his golf course in Bedminster. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly (R) and White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter (L)walk to Marine One prior to departure from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, August 4, 2017. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

US Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy to President US Donald Trump Dina Powell (R) and White House Communications Director Hope Hicks talk after getting off Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey on September 15, 2017. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Hope Hicks (L), interim White House Communications Director, is greeted by Gary Cohn (R), Director of the National Economic Council, before the start of a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House marking the September 11 attacks September 11, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks steps off off Air Force One upon arrival in Morristown, New Jersey on June 30, 2017. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

From left to right: Senior Advisor Stephen Miller, Deputy National Security Advisor K. T. McFarland, and White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks walk on the South Lawn of the White House on May 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)

(L-R) White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Senior Advisor Stephen Miller, Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon walk to board Marine One as US President Donald Trump departs the White House for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he will hold a rally on the 100th day of his presidency on April 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks (L) and Senior Counselor to the President and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon walk down the West Wing Colonnade following a bilateral meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe February 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White House advisors Kellyanne Conway (L) and Hope Hicks attend the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2017. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

Hope Hicks, White House director of strategic communications, arrives to a swearing in ceremony of White House senior staff in the East Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)

Trump advisers Kellyanne Conway (L) and Hope Hicks on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. In today's inauguration ceremony Donald J. Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

US President-elect Donald Trump (R) and press secretary Hope Hicks on stage during a 'Thank You Tour 2016' rally on December 17, 2016 in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)

Trump campaign communications director Hope Hicks talks on her phone in the lobby at Trump Tower, December 12, 2016 in New York City. President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are in the process of filling cabinet and other high level positions for the new administration. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Rob Porter must have some redeeming quality that still makes him attractive to Hope Hicks because their romance appears to be going strong — five months after he resigned from his White House job after his two ex-wives alleged he had been physically and emotionally abusive, the Daily Mail is reporting.

Former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter with Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner in August 2017. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The two former White House colleagues spent the past weekend in her apartment in Manhattan, occasionally popping out to pick up food, wine or flowers or to visit to Central Park, the Daily Mail said.

Hicks, 29, recently moved to Manhattan, several months after she left her job as Donald Trump’s White House communications director in late March, reports say.

The president’s former close confidante announced her resignation after a nine-hour interview by the House panel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. During that session, she admitted she was occasionally given to telling “white lies” on behalf of Trump and his White House.

Page Six reported that she’s currently job hunting in Manhattan, after spending time at her family’s home in Connecticut. Back in the March, The Blast reported that Hicks could consider a career in crisis PR for celebrities, while Page Six said she’s being wooed by a number of major companies. Page Six added that she has ruled out returning to the White House, despite speculation to the contrary.

Meanwhile, prior to his rendezvous with Hicks in Manhattan, Porter, 40, had not been seen in public since resigning from his job as Trump’s staff secretary in February. That’s when the Daily Mail reported on domestic allegations made by his two ex-wives, Colbie Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby.

The White House came under fire for initially giving Porter, a Harvard Law School-trained attorney, its full support. Porter held an interim security clearance and controlled the flow of documents to and from the president’s desk.

Chief of Staff John Kelly called the straw-jawed Porter “a trusted professional” and “a man of true integrity and honor.” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders similarly called him a man “of the highest integrity and exemplary character,” the Washington Post reported.

President Donald Trump points to outgoing White House Communications Director Hope Hicks on her last day on March 29. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

It was subsequently learned that White House counsel Donald McGahn had known for a year about the allegations Porter’s ex-wives made against him to the FBI, the Washington Post added. Meanwhile, Kelly learned about the charges in the fall, and a former girlfriend of Porter’s had urged the White House to investigate him, the White House said.

And yet Porter stayed in his job.

Then came the Daily Mail’s report about the allegations in early February. Holderness, to whom he was married from 2003 to 2008, released a photo of herself with a black eye and alleged that Porter had choked and punched her during their marriage and subjected her to emotional and verbal abuse. His second wife Willoughby described how Porter once dragged her wet and naked out of the shower and was verbally abusive on their honeymoon. She filed a protective order against him in 2010.

Hours after the photos from Holderness were published, Porter resigned. But he insisted on his innocence, the Daily Mail said.

“These outrageous allegations are simply false,” he said in February. He also spoke about his commitment to public service. “I have always put duty to country first and treated others with respect.”

Around the time that Porter came under fire for the domestic allegations, the Daily Mail reported that he was dating Hicks.

The Daily Mail said Porter arrived at Hicks’ apartment on Thursday night, carrying an overnight bag and a gift bag from Wimbledon. He was seen on Friday returning from a walk with snacks and wine from a nearby liquor store.

Then on Saturday, both were seen in Central Park, with the Daily Mail publishing a series of photos that showed the two looking like they were trying not to be seen together. Hicks, wearing a Wimbledon baseball cap pulled low over her face went jogging, while Porter walked around “aimlessly.”

They seemed to be exchanging text messages, and at one point they pretended they didn’t know each other as she paused to stretch and he walked past her, texting some more.

Martha Ross is a features writer who covers everything and anything related to popular culture, society, health, women’s issues and families. A native of the East Bay and a graduate of Northwestern University and Mills College, she’s also a former hard-news and investigative reporter, covering crime and local politics.